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Flint Hill contractor Eddie Fletcher enters plea in embezzlement case

by | Aug 28, 2026

focus on hammer, group of files on judge table covered with dust - concept of pending old cases or work at judicial court.
(Courtesy/Adobe Stock)

A Flint Hill contractor accused of taking more than $450,000 from a Woodville couple for a home renovation he never finished accepted a plea deal last Tuesday, agreeing to pay $250,000 in restitution. 

Edward “Eddie” Fletcher Jr., owner of E. Fletcher Construction, pleaded no contest — not admitting guilt, but accepting punishment — last week to embezzlement, a charge stemming from his unfinished remodel of Robert and Alexandra McKee’s home in Woodville. An additional construction fraud charge was not prosecuted at this time. 

According to Commonwealth’s Attorney Art Goff, the charge will prohibit Fletcher from working as a contractor again. 

Goff wrote in an email Monday that the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation, the state agency that approves licenses and certifications, “will have the facts of this case in his file, so they will know the embezzlement charge is connected to contracting activity” and would not approve a new contractor’s license. 

“The bottom line of the agreement is no jail today, and no jail ever if you comply,” Judge Robert Smith told Fletcher from the bench. 

Fletcher was arrested in February 2025 after the McKees ended their construction contract with him and filed charges. The couple said they paid him more than $450,000 to remodel their Woodville home starting in March 2023, but by August 2024 little progress had been made and no building permits had been filed.

At a September 2025 hearing, Robert McKee testified that when he asked Fletcher about the missing permits, Fletcher blamed a secretary who, McKee later learned, didn’t exist. The McKees also paid Fletcher more than $30,000 for appliances that were ordered but never paid for, according to testimony from Capt. James Jones of the Rappahannock County Sheriff’s Office.

Fletcher paid back $165,000 of the money he’s accused of taking as of last week, and another $185,000 is secured through a deed of trust on his and his wife’s $1.1 million home in Flint Hill. He has 18 months to pay that balance.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Art Goff said Fletcher has “about a dozen” other cases related to failed construction work in Rappahannock civil court and in other jurisdictions. One of six of Fletcher’s Civil Court cases in Rappahannock and Warren counties has been resolved, according to court records. 

Goff said the McKees are “in full agreement” with the plea agreement, and that he was “happy to broker an agreement where they received a substantial sum.” 

The plea agreement bars him from taking on contracting jobs or applying for a new contractor’s license. If he still holds a contractor’s license, the agreement says, he must surrender it. He is allowed to work in construction as an employee, provided he does not handle clients’ money.

“Whether he’s swinging a hammer on a construction crew, that’s not the concern,” Goff said. “Being a wage employee is not the same as being a contractor.”

If Fletcher maintains good behavior, does not breach the terms of the plea agreement — including not working as a contractor — for five years, and pays back the remaining balance, the charge will be reduced to a misdemeanor, according to the plea agreement.

Fletcher’s attorney T. Huntley Thorpe told the Rappahannock News on Tuesday that once the probation period is over, Fletcher could theoretically apply for another contractor’s license.

Author

  • Ireland Hayes

    Ireland joined Foothills Forum as a full-time reporter in 2023 after graduating from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication with a degree in journalism and minor in music. As a student, she gained valuable experience in reporter and editor positions at The Red & Black, an award-winning student newspaper, and contributed to Grady Newsource and the Athens Banner-Herald. She spent three years as an editorial assistant at Georgia Magazine, UGA’s quarterly alumni publication, and interned with The Bitter Southerner.
    Growing up in a small town in Southeast Georgia, Ireland developed a deep appreciation for rural communities and the unique stories they have to tell. She completed undergraduate research on news deserts, ghost papers and the ways rural communities in Georgia are being forced to adapt to a lack of local news. This research further sparked her interest in a career contributing to the preservation of local and rural news.
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By Ireland Hayes

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Ireland joined Foothills Forum as a full-time reporter in 2023 after graduating from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication with a degree in journalism and minor in music. As a student, she gained valuable experience in reporter and editor positions at The Red & Black, an award-winning student newspaper, and contributed to Grady Newsource and the Athens Banner-Herald. She spent three years as an editorial assistant at Georgia Magazine, UGA’s quarterly alumni publication, and interned with The Bitter Southerner. Growing up in a small town in Southeast Georgia, Ireland developed a deep appreciation for rural communities and the unique stories they have to tell. She completed undergraduate research on news deserts, ghost papers and the ways rural communities in Georgia are being forced to adapt to a lack of local news. This research further sparked her interest in a career contributing to the preservation of local and rural news.